Sunday, March 25, 2007

A couple weeks ago…it happened.

Antuan.

Me.

Debbie Gibson.

From the beginning I think I made it clear that loving me, meant loving her and earlier this month we were able to put that love to the test.

There’s a 80’s themed dance club here in NYC called, Culture Club. A couple months ago I read that Deborah (reverting back to Debbie for the sake of the club’s theme) would be performing.

Of course I would be there.

I was both excited and nervous about the night. I was going to let a boyfriend see my cheesy-ness out in full force. Could he handle it?

The night of the show I dug through my large plastic bin of Debbie Gibson memorabilia and brought out into the daylight a vintage, 1989 concert t-shirt. It had never been worn and was in mint condition. I knew that it would be THE perfect shirt for the evening.

I also knew that it would never fit me.

The shirt, emblazoned with a 19 year old Gibson’s face on the front and the 1989 neon light ELECTRIC YOUTH loge from her second album on the back, was a size medium. It wouldn’t fit me but it would fit Antuan.

I packed in my bag and headed to Antuan’s apartment. When I ceremoniously unveiled the shirt all he could do was laugh. The shirt epitomizes the music of the late-80’s. Cheesy. Bright. Fun.

What’s not to love?

We headed to the show but not without have his roommate Hilary snap a few pictures to remember the evening.

Once at the club…I can hardly put into words the reception the shirt received. Throughout the night people were coming up and talking to us and even buying us drinks just to have their pictures taken with THE shirt.

In the wee hours of the morning Antuan confessed that he did feel like fraud; wearing the shirt of an 80’s icon he knows only vicariously through me. But for the night he was the host of the evening’s most talked about t-shirt.
The show. Fantastic. Deborah sang all the songs that the crowd knew and loved. She even through in a couple of showtunes (we are in NYC after all) and a new song, Famous (inspired by living in L.A. and being surrounded by hotel heiresses and other who are famous for only being famous.).

Antuan has a couple of CDs that I’ve made of Deb’s music but he’s really only listened to them because of me. Seeing her live was a completely different experience. He loved her energy (she’s a big time sweater on stage, as she dances and grooves with each tune) and sound.

I loved that she took a break from time to time to sit down at the keyboard on stage and play and sing songs like Foolish Beat and Lost In Your Eyes. Even in a dance club with an array of lights she proves again and again that she’s not an Act. She’s a musician. She’s a solid songwriter.

In the days of Britney Spears…there was once and still is: the real thing, Debbie Gibson.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Hi Jason, I was in your reply email to Tracy (she's a high school friend) about that ABC email, and I agree. Anyway, I came across your blog, and just read about your evening at Culture Club - funny.

Take care,
Christine
clackowski2@yahoo.com